Lars Ulrich (/ˈʌlrɪk/UL-rik; Danish: [lɑːs ˈulˀʁæɡ̊]; born December 26, 1963) is a Danish drummer and one of the founding members of American heavy metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle-class family.[1] A tennis player in his youth (he is the son of former tennis pro Torben Ulrich), Ulrich was originally a drummer in San Francisco. He then moved to Los Angeles at age sixteen in the summer of 1980 to train in the sport of tennis; though rather than playing tennis, he began playing the drums. After publishing an advertisement in a local Los Angeles newspaper called The Recycler, Ulrich met James Hetfield and formed Metallica.

Lars Ulrich was born on December 26, 1963, in Gentofte, Denmark, the son of Lone (née Sylvester-Hvid) and Torben Ulrich.[3] His paternal grandfather was tennis player Einer Ulrich. His paternal grandmother, Ulla Meyer, was from a Jewish family, and as a result, Lars' father was persecuted by the Nazis during World War II.[4] Saxophonist Dexter Gordon was Ulrich's godfather, and he's a childhood friend of Neneh Cherry.[5] In February 1973, Lars' father obtained five passes for five of his friends to a Deep Purple concert that was being held in the same Copenhagen stadium as one of his tournaments. When it was discovered that one of the friends could not go, their ticket was handed over to the nine-year-old Ulrich. The young Ulrich was mesmerized by the performance, buying the band's Fireball album the next day. The concert and the album had a considerable impact on Ulrich, inspiring the start of his career in rock and roll and later on, heavy metal. As a result of his newfound interest in music, he received his first drum kit from his grandmother at the age of twelve,[6] a Ludwig. Ulrich originally intended to play tennis, and he moved to America in 1980.[7]

In 1981, Ulrich discovered British heavy metal band Diamond Head. He was excited about the band's style of music after purchasing their debut album Lightning to the Nations (1980). He traveled from San Francisco to London to see the band perform live at the Woolwich Odeon. Ulrich remains a fan of Diamond Head and mixed its album The Best of Diamond Head.[8] Upon returning to America, Ulrich placed an ad in a local newspaper looking for musicians to start a band with him. James Hetfield replied to the ad, and Metallica was formed.

Between 1998 and 2002, Ulrich tried running a record label, the Music Company. The company was a joint venture with Metallica accountant Tim Duffy. It failed to catch on and folded in the spring 2002.[9]

Ulrich's voice can be heard in the opening seconds of "Leper Messiah" and he also counts to four in his native Danish on the "St. Anger" music video.

He made his acting debut in the HBO original film Hemingway & Gellhorn, which began filming in March 2011 and was released on May 28, 2012.[10] Ulrich made a brief cameo appearance as himself in the film Get Him to the Greek, as the partner of the character Jackie Q.[11]

In 2012, Ulrich was the focus of the documentary film, "Mission to Lars". The film by Kate and Will Spicer concerns their journey with their brother Tom, who lives in a care home in Devon, England and who has Fragile X syndrome, to try to meet Lars at one of Metallica's 2009 gigs in California.[12]

I wish that I was more...you know, I felt kind of ambushed by the whole thing because I didn't really know enough about what we were getting ourselves into when we jumped. [...] We didn't know enough about the kind of grassroots thing, and what had been going on the last couple of months in the country as this whole new phenomenon was going on. We were just so stuck in our controlling ways of wanting to control everything that had to do with Metallica. So we were caught off guard and we had a little bit of a rougher landing on that one than on other times than when we just blindly leaped. But you know, I'm still proud of the fact that we did leap...and I took a lot of hits and it was difficult.

On June 10, 2014, Ulrich was challenged by actor Will Ferrell and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith to a drum-off because he looked "eerily similar" to the two (though looking much more similar to Christopher Walken or Anthony Hopkins). Ferrell and Smith have held a joke feud for years over how the two resembled each other which culminated in a drum-off in May 2014 on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[16] Two days later, Ulrich accepted the challenge saying "It was a little lonely on the sidelines during the first drum-off, given the somewhat forced nature of the lookalike element between Chad Smith and Will Ferrell, when I'm TRULY the one carrying that dead-ringer gene around!"[17]

Ulrich's drumming style has changed throughout his career. During the 1980s he was known for his fast, aggressive thrash beats. He would often utilize the double bass technique in Latin breakbeats (which is influenced greatly from the Motorhead song "Overkill"), which has become highly popular among heavy metal drummers. The best examples of this are "Metal Militia" (Kill 'Em All), "Fight Fire with Fire" (Ride the Lightning), "Battery" (Master of Puppets), "Damage, Inc." (Master of Puppets), "Blackened" (...And Justice for All), "One" (...And Justice for All), "That Was Just Your Life" (Death Magnetic), "All Nightmare Long" (Death Magnetic) and, arguably his most extreme, "Dyers Eve" (...And Justice for All), among others. Ulrich uses groove in his drum style, including clean and fast double bass beats in many songs and heavy drum fills. He has been known to drum in sync with the rhythm guitar played by James Hetfield. However, during the 1990s and early 2000s he simplified his drum rhythms in order to fit the simplification in Metallica's overall musical style. It was a huge contrast to his previous performance and as a result, he was criticized as being a poor drummer. Prior to forming Metallica, it has been said that Lars Ulrich had a small beginners kit that he never played, and James Hetfield originally did not want to jam with Ulrich due to the drummer's novice abilities.

[The criticism] used to [bother me], back in the day – and I spent a lot of time overcompensating for that on the early records. But then you wake up one day and you're like, 'whatever.' It hasn't bothered me for about 15 years. I'm no Joey Jordison. I'm no Mike Portnoy, and I have nothing but love and respect and admiration for all those guys. When I hear some of the young dudes, they blow my mind with what they can do with their feet and stuff – but it's not something that makes me go, 'I need to feel better about myself so I'm gonna learn how to do what they do with my feet.' I'm not a particularly accomplished drummer but I am very, very, very good at understanding the role of the drums next to James Hetfield's rhythm guitar. I guarantee you I'm the best guy in the world for that, and that's enough for me![18]

This started with Metallica, and very roughly ended with St. Anger. With Metallica's ninth album, Death Magnetic, Ulrich made a return to his style from the 1980s, in which he played slightly more complex and fast rhythms.

Ulrich has been married twice. His first marriage was in 1988 to Debbie Jones, a British woman he met on tour, but they divorced in 1990 due to Ulrich's constant absence during the recording of Metallica. That self-titled album ended up being released on August 12, 1991.

His second marriage was to Skylar Satenstein, an emergency medicine physician, from 1997 to 2004. They have two sons, Myles (b. 1998), and Layne (b. 2001).[citation needed] Myles is following his father's footsteps by playing drums for the band My Missing Half.[citation needed]

Following his divorce from Satenstein, Ulrich dated Danish actress Connie Nielsen from mid-2004 until 2012. The couple had their first child, Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen, (b. 2007) in San Francisco.[19] Nielsen also has another son named Sebastian (b. 1990).[citation needed]

In terms of charity, Ulrich has been an activist in support of expanding access to health care for Americans, with his family working with the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic of San Francisco, California. He particularly raised $32,000 for the group during a celebrity edition of the popular Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? program.[22]

Drums – Tama Starclassic Maple, LU Magnetic Orange.[25] Ulrich uses the same kit, in a green finish, in the tuning room (prior to performances) and in the studio. In 2013, Ulrich began using the silver drum kit last seen around the filming of S&M.

10"×8" Tom

12"×10" Tom

16"×14" Floor Tom

16"×16" Floor Tom

22"×16" Bass Drum (×2)

14"×6.5" Lars Ulrich Signature Snare Drum

Note: Ulrich uses the standard Lars Ulrich Signature LU1465 snare live on tour (diamond plate), while he uses both the LU1465 and LU1465BB (bell brass) in the studio, depending on what type of sound he wants.